With Application to Official World Golf Rankings In Limbo, LIV Golf Seeks New Ways to Get Its Players Into Majors
POTOMAC FALLS, Va. – Will LIV ever get world ranking points? And if they do, will they accurately reflect the performances of their individual players?
It seems that LIV players and executives are starting to see the handwriting on the wall, and that LIV’s application to the Official World Golf Rankings may not produce the outcome they desired.
Over the last 10 months, there has been limited back and forth between LIV Golf and Official World Golf Ranking administrators. Most communication has involved LIV responding to OWGR questions about its format, relegation, and pathways where players could join from other tours.
And while LIV Golf says the process has gone relatively smoothly, the process to many still seems lengthy and cumbersome.
“The guidelines as I think most people know are very unclear as to what you actually have to do in order to get points,” a LIV executive who asked not to be named said this week. “They've got this criterion, and if you meet all of them, you may not get points. If you meet none of them, you may still get points and that criteria can change at any time.”
LIV remains unsure of what it can do to accelerate the process. Comments from PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh at last week’s PGA Championship also rang hallow with the organization.
“It's been frustrating from our side,” the LIV executive said. “We did receive a letter from them on the 24th of April and we've actually spoken to them since then, so Seth obviously wasn't aware of that communication last week when he said the ball was in our court, and he hadn't heard from us.”
Since LIV had responded to the April inquiry, they took PGA CEO’s Seth Waugh’s comments before last week’s PGA Championship as uninformed.
“That was just a falsehood,” the executive added. “We put out a statement to rectify that. He's a busy guy, right. But, if you're going to speak in front of the camera, it's probably best to be accurate.”
Bryson DeChambeau is currently 90th in the OWGR, up from 214 after his T4 at last week’s PGA Championship. He’s also No. 38 in the new SI World Golf Rankings, up from No. 111 two weeks ago. He says that OWGR points are no longer viable since in most cases LIV players have fallen too far down the list to qualify for the majors, but that LIV is working with the major championships on alternate ways to qualify.
“From my perspective and what I've heard so far is just creating an exemption category for LIV players based on how they play during the course of the year,” DeChambeau said. “I think that would be the most fair and opportune thing for LIV golfers considering the fields that we have, the major champions we have, and the elite level of play that we have each and every week.”
LIV executives are desperate to open pathways for non-exempt LIV players to play the majors without the cumbersome qualifying process used by the U.S. Open and Open Championship, or an unlikely exemption into the Masters or PGA Championship.
”I think that when you look at the players that we've got out here, the performances that they've had so far in the majors, the interest that they've brought to not only the competition, but also just the narrative and the storylines around those events, then great. But from a competitive point of view, if you believe that the majors are the pinnacle of the sport, that the most historic event of the biggest event, having the strongest fields makes a lot of sense,” the LIV executive said. “If they don't have the strongest fields because our players can't get OWGR to fit the existing exemption criteria, it seems a pretty sensible step that the exemption criteria would then contemplate LIV directly.”
Ultimately, LIV wants to be part of the OWGR with a revised, accurate ranking system.
It’s fair at this moment to ask: is last week’s PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka’s current spot in the world rankings – No. 13 – accurate? (He is currently No. 3 in the Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings, which award points for LIV results and all pro tours.)
Koepka, a former world No. 1, was 118th in the OWGR when he made the trip to Augusta and after a T2 he jumped to 39th. When Koepka arrived at Oak Hill, he had fallen from 39th to 44th before his victory.
In front of Koepka in the current OWGR are Will Zalatoris at 10th, Viktor Hovland at sixth, Xander Schauffele at fifth, and Patrick Cantlay at fourth. None of the four have won in 2023 and Zalatoris hasn’t teed it up since the WGC-Dell Match Play at the end of March due a back injury that required surgery.
“I think the rankings quite clearly just not being accurate is what puts the pressure on OWGR,” the LIV executive said. “Brooks is 13thin the world, that's great. But that's still not accurate. He's earned a lot of points, 100 points on the weekend and 50 points at the Masters and his points are still not accurate. And I think that OWGR’s objective is very simple. It's to fairly and accurately rank the best players in the world when they're competing. And they haven't done that.
“I think regardless of what our players are doing, the fact that the rankings just aren't accurate, is what puts the pressure on them.”